For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 423d Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group, Sergeant Smith was the first enlisted airman in the Army Air Forces to receive the Medal of Honor.

The aircraft of which Sergeant Smith was the ball turret gunner was subjected to intense enemy anti-aircraft fire and determined fighter airplane attacks while returning from a bombing mission to Brest, France on May 1, 1943. The B-17 was hit several times by anti-aircraft fire and cannon shells of the fighter airplanes, two of the crew were seriously wounded, the aircraft’s oxygen system shot out, and several vital control cables severed when intense fires were ignited simultaneously in the radio compartment and waist sections. The situation became so acute that three of the crew bailed out. Unfortunately, they were never seen again and were presumed lost at sea. However, Smith’s efforts undoubtedly saved the lives of the six others aboard the plane.

Sergeant Smith, then on his first combat mission, elected to fight the fire by himself, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, manned the waist guns, and fought the intense flames alternately. The escaping oxygen fanned the fire to such intense heat that the ammunition in the radio compartment began to explode, the radio, gun mount, and camera were melted, and the compartment completely gutted.

Sergeant Smith threw the exploding ammunition overboard, fought the fire until all the firefighting aids were exhausted (after which Smith finally managed to put the fire out, in part by urinating on it), manned the workable guns until the enemy fighters were driven away, further administered first aid to his wounded comrade, and then by wrapping himself in protecting cloth, completely extinguished the fire by hand.

At the beginning of the Medal of Honor ceremony, an embarrassing moment took place. With the band in place, the Secretary of War Henry Stinson waiting at the podium, and B-17s prepared for their flyover, “Snuffy” was nowhere to be found. He was eventually located scraping leftovers from breakfast trays after being placed on KP duty for disciplinary reasons; which was nothing new to the men of the 306th Bomb Group…